Gaara, The Big Fluffy Monster
by Gaara and his Little Panda-kun
Summary: Naruto's having a bad day, and Sasuke, Neji, and Gaara try to cheer him up. Too bad nothing Sasuke or Neji does works. Until they find a certain costume and a certain candidate ripe for the picking... YAOI, NaruGaa, no lemon unless you beg for one .


**Gaara the Big Fluffy Monster**

_**Summary: **__Naruto's having a bad day, and Sasuke, Neji, and Gaara try to cheer him up. Too bad nothing Sasuke or Neji does works. Until they find a certain costume and a certain candidate ripe for the picking... YAOI, NaruGaa, no lemon (unless you beg for one)._

_**WARNING: **__This contains __**Fluffy Yaoi, **__meaning it's boyxboy love, people. If you flame me I will personally sick my Gaara on you._

_**Gaara: **__What? You can't just sick me on peopl--_

_**Little Panda-kun: **__SHH!! They don't know that!!_

* * *

**Little Panda-kun:**** Okay, so this is my first ever TOTAL FLUFF FIC!!! Can you feel the love?!**

**Lee:**** I can feel it!**

**Gai:**** Embrace it! Embrace the love, Lee!**

**Lee:**** I'm embracing it, sensei!!**

**(all three of us embrace)**

**Gaara:**** (sweatdrops)**

**Little Panda-kun:**** Well, anyway, this also has some slight angst and sadness in it. It's really down in the beginning. Is anyone happy I made Sakura ill?**

**Sasuke:**** (raises hand)**

**Gaara:**** (nods)**

**Lee:**** Never! How it hurts to see my beautiful cherry blossom wilting!**

**Little Panda-kun:**** She'll get better by the end of the fic, alright?**

**Lee:**** (cries)**

**Little Panda-kun:**** (slaps forehead) Just read the damn fic.**

* * *

It was horrible. Just horrible.

Naruto shouted so loud that anybody on the street could've heard him. With a harsh cry he raced into his apartment and slammed the door shut, right in the face of a confused sensei. The Chuunin knocked on the door lightly, but the student inside knew better.

"Naruto," Iruka called out. "C'mon out."

"NO!!!" Naruto's scream came through the door, and the sensei's frustration finally showed up. He had been chasing his brat for an hour now and he was sick to the teeth of having to deal with this. Naruto was really that disturbed with the fact that Sakura was sick and in the hospital? Impossible!

"C'mon, Naruto!" the sensei yelled. "Sasuke and I can take you out for some ramen."

No hesitation followed as the voice screamed, "No!" The shouts were getting less angry now, more upset.

Iruka was taken aback. What? A no? If ramen couldn't sway him, then maybe he **was **upset. He tapped the door lightly.

"Naruto--"

"Just go away."

Iruka stood there for a moment, analyzing the cracking voice that had replied. He looked down at his shoes, then decided to do as he was told. He felt the boy had earned it. Putting up with his sensei, his only teammate-- his 'teme'-- and now him without crying all day must've made him slightly weary. With a sigh, Iruka alighted the stairs and walked off.

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

Sasuke had at first been amused by Naruto's apparent concern for their annoying pink-haired comrade and her unknown illness. He felt it was a major overreaction of Kakashi's to dismiss missions for the day due to Naruto's out-of-sorts behavior. The obnoxiously charming boy had run off as soon as he heard the words 'day off', and Sasuke assumed it was a ramen trip. But he had passed Ichiraku's moments later to find no blonde haired boy making sure the whole stall was his. And so Sasuke continued to wander, slightly peeved by the fact he couldn't locate his 'friend' in any of the places he'd normally be.

He'd wandered past the flower shop, only to find that when he peered inside the window he saw not one blonde, but two. He'd quickly spotted orange on one of the blondes and figured it to be his friend. But as he opened the door to enter Naruto shouldered him on his way out. He had flowers in his hands and was at a dead run. Sasuke scowled. First he was amused; now he was annoyed. He shut the door, much to the disappointment of the Yamanaka manning the counter, and ran after his friend. He'd always been the faster of the two of them. He could catch up easily.

Naruto burst into the hospital door and had talked to the lady at the desk for a split second before running past the elevator and into the door that said 'stairway'. After talking with the lady at the desk for what seemed like an hour (_You need an appointment, my ass_), during which time he established he was **not **a patient, merely a visitor, he dashed up the stairway too.

Running to room 409, he noticed the door was opened a crack and peered inside. Naruto was there, sitting by Sakura's bed, stroking her bubblegum-pink hair and twirling it on his fingers. His eyes were clouded with tiredness and sadness. He was worried. Annoyance vanished from Sasuke's mind as he looked the scene over with dark, probing eyes. Now he was concerned for the kit that had become his closest friend. That confident, never-give-up attitude faded into a massacre of messy and expressive sorrow come out to play. And the emotions played on his features horribly well. With a slight gasp Sasuke realized something; this was no hoax to get out of training. This was **real**.

After watching the dobe sit and talk to her unconscious, sweaty, and pale body for an hour or two, Naruto had finally gotten up and left the cherry-red roses on the nightstand beside her bed. He had walked out into the hall wearily, and as Sasuke was about to approach him, Iruka ran towards him from a joining hallway. Sasuke grit his teeth; he was going to be nice to the dobe, but his stupid sensei had to ruin it. Sighing, Sasuke decided to just stop thinking that way altogether and go home.

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

Now he wished he hadn't gone home at all.

Here was Iruka, the one man who made him forget his whole being-nice-to-Naruto bit because he stole his airtime, ranting about making the kit happy. Sasuke wished-- _I know I could, I'd get my ass whooped, though_-- he could just slam the door on the sensei's face. But he noticed the concern he had for the fox, and how he couldn't stop pulling Hinatas.

"I don't know what to do, Sasuke," Iruka said, leaning in the doorway. He, too, looked tired, but not as tired as Naruto had. "I've tried everything; suggesting to take him out for ramen, asking if he wanted to spend the day with you--"

"Why in Kami's name would he want to do that?" Sasuke asked. Iruka tilted his head at Sasuke.

"You're a good friend to him," Iruka replied, almost surprised. "You didn't know that?"

"Er, not really," Sasuke said, feigning stupidity. Iruka could tell he was faking it and narrowed his eyes.

"Fine, if you could care less about Naruto, then I won't waste your time any more," he said stiffly. "But remember one thing; Naruto would do anything for you, Sasuke."

Iruka trudged off, leaving a confused and relatively annoyed Sasuke at the door. He stared after the sensei, trying to grasp exactly what he'd meant and what he was suggesting by telling him those things...

He already knew it. He was just, once again, feigning stupidity.

Growling, he slammed his door shut. A few minutes later, it opened, and Sasuke walked out. "Damn it all, can't I ever get a break for once?!"

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

Sasuke had walked all the way to Naruto's apartment and had still not thought of anything to do for the kitsune. It was hard to focus, anyway, what with the girls constantly swarming him or the questionably sane Lee asking him questions on Sakura's status. Still, Sasuke figured that maybe just winging it would get by easily.

He knocked on the door and waited. It opened a crack, and a sapphire orb looked out at him.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, voice cracking. He was blinking a lot; either a draft in the door was making his eyes dry or he was crying.

"I wanted to ask how you're doing, dobe," Sasuke said, and Naruto sighed roughly.

"I'm fine," he replied, brushing a hand through his messy blonde locks.

"You sure?" Sasuke asked. "Because you look pretty bad."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed and his frustration showed through. "I'm fine, alright, just lemme alone and maybe I'll come out sooner!" His run on sentence was sealed when he slammed the door.

"What did I say?" Sasuke asked himself, confused, and walked down the street. Sasuke swore he heard glass crash and a cat screech in the distance.

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

"...What?"

Sasuke looked at the Hyuuga, annoyance playing dangerous games in his eyes. "You heard me. I need help restoring life into the blonde. Care to assist?"

Neji looked at him as if he were a bug and was contemplating whether or not to step on him. Sasuke would deem it justified if the verdict was the latter.

Sasuke had gotten the bright idea to go ask people for assistance in cheering up the blonde, since he wasn't much of an angel himself and screwed up the first time. He thought of going to Lee's house, but since Lee was already following him around and asking at random (and relatively odd) intervals if Sakura was recovering yet, Sasuke chose the negative on that one. He had also visited Hinata, but by the look of it she wasn't going to wake up from passing out at the mere mention of Naruto's dilemma just yet. Sasuke even contemplated Gai-sensei, but something deep inside told him the power of youth wasn't going to help this time. Naruto needed a friend.

"And what makes you think that I would be interested in helping Naruto?" Neji sneered, and Sasuke snarled in return. He'd been a stiff ass-- _That's putting it nicely_-- ever since Naruto defeated him. In all honesty, if anyone looked close enough, they could tell Neji saw Naruto as an icon of hope, and would do anything to help him. But Neji had pride to hold on to; the perk of being a prodigy. Sasuke knew that all too well.

"Just ditch your pride for once and help those in need, alright?" Sasuke snapped. "I'm not asking you to be a saint, though that would be absolutely frightening, now that I mention it--" A glare from Neji, easily ignored-- "I'm just asking you to think about Naruto for once. He's done a lot for everyone and maybe we owe him one."

Neji stared at him. "So get someone else. You said we all owe him one--"

"Fuck it," Sasuke said, and he took Neji by the wrist and began to drag him to Naruto's.

"What are you-- Get your hands off me!!"

"Shut up, Hyuuga, nobody's gonna hear you."

"And how do you know?"

"Two words; duct tape."

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

Sasuke sat on the curb, his patience boiling. "Who else have I not tried?"

"We could try this rock," Neji said, throwing a pebble at Sasuke's face. It hit his cheek and fell, and Sasuke aknowledged this with the sticking out of his tongue.

Neji's attempt was hardly any better than Sasuke's; he offered the kit to a fighting match, which got him riled up about how Sakura could've gotten a foreign disease from fighting foreign ninja, and he ran to the hospital to see if they found anything wrong with her. Sasuke, meanwhile, was trying to keep himself from hitting Neji in the goddamned face.

"We're acting insanely childish about this," Neji said. "Have you offered him ramen?"

"Yeah, he's already been offered ramen," Sasuke replied. "He's just... I don't know, honestly. I guess he's really stressed about all of this, I wish we had someone who he was really close to besides Sakura herself."

Footsteps tapped in front of them, and Sasuke sent a quick glance up; and found his eyes glued to the man in front of him. Messy red hair swayed over black-ringed turquoise eyes and sheet-white skin. A gourd weighed him down, sand slightly tinkling across the ground as it swooped back into his gourd. Walking past nonchalantly was the Kage of Suna; Sabaku no Gaara.

Sasuke watched him stroll a way down the street before suddenly getting up and running after him.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Neji yelled, getting up and running after the raven-haired boy.

Sasuke approached Gaara and tapped his shoulder almost gingerly. With a fast whip of his body Gaara suddenly stood to face the boy, his expression completely stoic.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked, and it was then that Sasuke suddenly realized he hadn't prepared anything to say. He looked blankly at Gaara as Gaara stared blankly back and slightly fidgeted with his fingers, changing his stance a bit.

"Er... Naruto's upset," he said, deciding bluntly coming out with it would help.

To his surprise, Gaara's expression changed not one bit. "And what am I to do about this?"

By now, Neji had caught up and was standing slightly behind Sasuke.

"Well..." Once again, Sasuke found himself unable to speak. He really hadn't planned anything to say to Gaara at all, he realized, and this was a mere stroke of despair. How could Gaara, the demon-boy Gaara who had always hated everybody and had nearly no social experience, cheer up happy little Naruto?

Sasuke had stumped himself with his own logic. And what's worse, Gaara was reflecting that same argument in his stare.

"I don't know," Sasuke finally ended. "But I figured since you're his friend, you could do something to help."

Gaara tossed his head to the side. "I'm not friends with anybody," he said in his monotone, and Sasuke felt himself slightly angering.

"That's not true, and you know it," he said. "Naruto's friends with you--"

"So he thinks--"

"Well if he thinks he is than you obviously are, because Naruto's never thought wrong, not once." Sasuke glared at Gaara who had just kept on staring at him and Sasuke found it frustrating that emotionless face in front of him was so damn hard to read. Finally Sasuke spun on his heel and stalked off, and Neji, feeling quite unready to go against Gaara, turned and followed him.

Gaara watched them walk down the street, then silently turned and walked the other way. How confusing were the thoughts dotting the back of his mind...

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

"What a jackass!" Sasuke said, finding his backstabbing Gaara to sound a little girlish. He didn't care, though, and continued to stab him in an even more feminine manner. "What an insensitive jerk!"

"I would say the same about you," Neji retorted, still not on Sasuke's side, but not against it. Sasuke glared at him as he plainly stated, "You're the one practically forcing people to help the dobe for you."

"It's only because I failed," Sasuke replied, still glaring at Neji. "Only because I can't do it alone."

"So what should we do?" Neji asked. "Throw a party? Drown him in ramen? Get him high off sake and listen to his problems? I doubt there's anything more we could do for him that wouldn't run us out of our minds."

"Yeah, I know," Sasuke murmured, and they sat in silence for a moment before the tapping of sandals made them turn to see Gaara, tucking a scroll into his pocket before stopping in front of them. Icy eyes glared at pale and dark ones, looking them both over and finally nodding to them stoically.

"I'll try to help," he replied, hoping they'd rein in his fluttering stomach and nervous demeanor.

To Neji's surprise, Sasuke snorted. "What could you do that we haven't done?"

Gaara glared at Sasuke. Neji kept thinking how ungrateful Sasuke was and slightly felt that Sasuke deserved to be decked in the face.

"Anything will do for him, or so I perceived," Gaara replied. "It just has to be special."

Neji slightly raised his hand. "I have an idea."

Gaara and Sasuke looked at him. "And what's that?" the latter asked.

"Follow me," Neji said, and they began to trot down the street.

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

"**No way in hell!!**"

Neji glared at Sasuke, while Gaara strained himself not to laugh. They had followed Neji to a small shop on the corner of the street with a big fluffy costume in the window and they had all stood staring at it until Neji clued them in that one of them had to wear it. Neji went inside and found out the price and the sizes and came back with the information on a small slip of paper and the sad news that it was slightly too small for him but it'd fit Sasuke perfectly. He refused to tell Sasuke the size, though.

"It's unfair!" Sasuke said. "You gotta tell me the size!"

"I can't do that, Sasuke," Neji said. "I just know it'd fit you. You're slightly smaller than me, and I was too big only by a bit." He flapped the piece of paper in his hand teasingly and Sasuke's eyes tried to incinerate him only to fail miserably.

"No," Sasuke repeated sternly.

"We have no time to waste, Sasuke!" Neji said, walking inside the shop to buy it. Sasuke growled, but his eyes were glued to Neji as he walked inside. Through the clear glass windows Sasuke glared at Neji until--

"It won't fit me," he said. "I saw the size on the piece of paper in Neji's hand. It won't fit. It's too small."

Gaara looked at Sasuke. "How big is it?"

"An inch shorter than me," he said. "Not much of a difference, but a little means a lot."

Gaara sighed. "I'm about an inch shorter than you. I'll do it."

Sasuke looked at Gaara, face morphed at a median between shock and pure pleasure. "You sure?" he asked falsely.

"Yes," Gaara said blankly, looking at Neji as he arrived out front of the shop. "I'll wear it."

Neji looked at Gaara. "What?"

"I'm wearing it," Gaara said, taking the fluffy suit and walking back inside the shop to change.

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

Naruto sniffled slightly as he looked at the ramen in front of him and pushed it away. Every attempt he had tried to get his mind off of Sakura and cheer himself up was useless. And every attempt everyone had tried to make him feel better only made him feel worse. The only person who could cheer him up now was the one laying in the hospital.

He sighed, ruffling his perfect blonde hair. His face was strained and sticky from tears. It was no wonder, either; he'd been crying all day. Seeing her in the hospital like that... Pale from illness, too hot to be okay...He felt an aching in the pit of his stomach that told him he wanted to switch places with her. To take the illness from her and then she could be okay. Then she could laugh and coo over Sasuke (though not exactly favored by Naruto, even **that** would be a relief to him) and teach Naruto the importance of patience and waiting. Like she always did.

He curled up on his couch and pulled his knees in close, biting his lip and trying to stifle tears again. It was no use. Just thinking about her made him upset and angry at the same time. And now Neji got this dillusional thought in his head that she had concocted a foreign illness. Oh, how that drove the blonde insane. He had gone to check and see if it was true but they'd made no advances on what her illness was.

He gasped and closed his eyes, opening them again when he could only see Sakura underneath his eyelids. Just as he turned over on the couch and began to give in to tears, he heard a knock on the door.

**NaruGaaxNaruGaaxNaruGaa**

"What am I supposed to do?" Gaara asked, voice monotonous. While Sasuke was just grinning at the sight of Gaara in a big, fluffy costume that reminded him vaguely of blue cotton candy and gummy bears, Neji schooled him on what to say and what to do as they stood in front of Naruto's house.

"You could sing a song," Neji suggested, which earned a glare from Gaara and a (very poorly) stifled laugh from Sasuke. "You could dance," another suggestion, which got Sasuke to snigger and Gaara's glare to intensify. "You could give him a hug." Sasuke broke into laughter.

"Gaara? Giving Naruto a **hug?! **I don't think that's humanly possible!" he hollered, laughing so hard his stomach was aching. He was too busy trying to control himself, though, to notice that Gaara's glare hadn't gotten worse but disappeared at the suggestion.

A hug in itself was special, Gaara knew that. His sister had given him many and it made some sort of warmth radiate through him. Though it bugged him to no end simply because he had no idea what it was, Naruto was a social butterfly and probably gave hugs often. He didn't just throw them around like nothing, though. The blonde dobe gave them with the knowing that they would make someone happy.

Maybe if he, for once, received a hug, he'd be the happy one.

"Alright," Gaara said, instantly silencing the laughing Uchiha, which was good, because Neji was getting worried about it; Uchihas don't laugh. They smirk.

Sasuke looked at Gaara with a weird expression on his face. "What?" he asked.

"I'm going to give Naruto a hug."

Sasuke's eyes widened considerably, as did Neji's. "Alright," Neji said hesitantly, hoping he wasn't going to lure the blonde in and eat him. "Go ahead."

Gaara nodded and walked towards the blonde's front door, the big suit wiggling slightly as he walked. Sasuke couldn't laugh now, though; he was shocked at the fact that A: the dark boy had actually put the suit on, B: the dark boy was going to hug Naruto **with** the suit on, and C: the dark boy was even helping. Still, he watched with wary eyes as Gaara approached Naruto's door and knocked.

After a few seconds of waiting, Naruto opened the door, tears streaming out of his eyes and mouth open to say something, but he stopped. In front of him was a suit with thick fur and the body of a panda. With light blue fur and a cherry red dots, little red toes and fingers (though the paws were rounded, they were represented by the red) and red ears, the suit was the true definiton of a big, fluffy monster. But what truly made it a monster was the redhead inside it, with his nose painted red and little whisker marks slicing across his cheeks.

Sabaku no Gaara.

Naruto was in shock at seeing the one person more emotionless than Sasuke standing before him in a fluffy suit. It was like a dream.

Naruto let out a little 'uh' noise before he was suddenly enveloped entirely in fur. The warmth of the fur overwhelmed him and he was plunged into a world that smelled, oddly enough, of strawberries. Big, fuzzy arms wrapped around him, and he slowly hugged back, not believing what he was seeing. All of this suddenly became even more impossible when Gaara said, very quietly, "Be happy, Naruto."

Naruto felt like crying as he gripped onto the fuzzy suit for dear life and squeezed Gaara as much as possible. He felt like everything was just sucked right out of him, leaving him empty, hopeless, helpless. But Gaara was there, his lifeline to hold onto, and so he held on to it as much as possible. He then let go, knowing Gaara probably didn't want to hold on for too long, and looked up at Gaara with tearstained eyes. "C-Come in," he stammered, a suddenly new characteristic of his voice, and Gaara stepped inside, barely clearing the door. Naruto didn't even see Sasuke and Neji standing by the street when he closed the door.

Gaara had stepped inside and stood there, waiting for Naruto to lead. Naruto turned from the door nervously to look at Gaara, and followed his eyes to the unfinished bowl of ramen. There was a look of disbelief on Gaara's face-- or, at least, would be one, if he wasn't Gaara.

"I wasn't f-feeling well," Naruto said into the silence, and Gaara looked at him. He blinked his turquoise eyes and nodded, and Naruto saw some sort of understanding in his gaze. This made Naruto relax a little, and he asked Gaara to sit. He nodded again and moved toward the couch, sitting down, taking off the head of the animal and setting it beside him. His red hair was ruffled even more than usual, though his makeup was still intact. Still black little whiskers flying off to the sides, still a cherry red nose. Naruto approached and sat on the right of the head, letting it sit between he and Gaara. He wanted to make the anti-social boy feel comfortable, and sitting within arm's reach of someone surely wasn't comforting to him.

To Naruto's surprise, though, Gaara picked up the head and placed it on the ground. He said nothing, though, and just sat there in silence. It seemed silence was his sanctuary. Naruto stared, though, at the paw sitting on the couch, with little red fingers and blue fur on the rest. He looked at how fuzzy it was and remembered how much he liked touching it. Unconsciously, he reached out to it and placed his hand on top of it, stroking it back and forth, feeling the fur move underneath his fingers.

Gaara was surprised and holding his breath. He thought for sure the kit was going to throw him out of his house. But instead, he watched, clearly fascinated with the hand on top of his, wondering why he was feeling the fur.

When Naruto realized what he was doing, he gasped and drew his hand back, looking away from Gaara. Oh, all the things happening today, and this was only making it worse. He was going to get Gaara mad at him for touching him, this he knew. Sighing, he looked down at his hands. Only one more person to lose, he supposed.

Gaara saw his change in demeanor, his sad face as he stared into his hands, and thought if one hug helped him a little, surely two would help him too. So he scooted towards the blonde and hugged him from the side, wrapping his monster-arms around him and pulling him towards him, close, burying him in fur again. And again, Naruto was speechless, but soon hugged back the monster and felt his energy being sucked out again. Gaara could feel the sobs making the boy's body move involuntarily. He was holding it in.

"If you want to cry," Gaara said, trying to soften the hard edge in his voice. "You can."

That one sentence broke Naruto's resolve in half. He absolutely promised himself he wouldn't cry in front of anybody today; not Sasuke, not Kakashi, not even Iruka. But today, on this dark and cold day, when all seemed to fade to black, he buried his face in Gaara's fluffy monster suit and cried. _I'll cry in front of nobody, _he thought, _not Sasuke, Iruka, or Kakashi. Nobody but Gaara._

Gaara held the crying kitsune, not knowing what he was doing but making the best of what he could. It seemed all was working so far, and all he had to do was keep this up until the kit was happy. But suddenly, a thought struck his mind. If a hug worked, and two hugs got him to let it out... What would a kiss do?

He thought on it, back to what Temari had told him once when he asked.

_She leaned on the kitchen counter and rested her head on her open palm. "Hmmm," she said. "That's a deep question, Gaa-kun. Are you sure you aren't a prophet?" Gaara's stoic expression told her to skip the jokes and get to the answer, and she did so accordingly. "A kiss has many different effects depending on three things," she said, holding up three fingers. "The kisser's attitude, where the person is kissed, and the person who is being kissed's attitude. _

_"Never kiss when the other is angry or you're angry... Unless, of course, you're both angry. You might end up hurting them if you're angry, or if they're angry, they'll hurt you. When you're both angry it balances out. _

_"When the other is sad, try to be caring and soft. When you're sad, try not to kiss. It ends up coming out as needy and nobody likes a needy person._

_"When you're happy and someone else is happy, your kiss could come out as anything it wants; joyous, horny, friendly, anything."_

_She met Gaara's gaze and got to the last part of the lecture. "Where someone is kissed often defines a person's intentions," she said. "A kiss on the cheek means friendship or 'play love', where it's often a friendly version of 'I love you'. A kiss on the forehead usually means a sempai-kohai relationship, or often a comforting kiss. Helps people when they're sad. A kiss on the lips can mean passion, confusion, or that they want to try something new." She then stood up from leaning on the counter and eyed Gaara. "Why are you asking, anyways?"_

_Gaara's expression remained stoic as he replied, "I just saw you kissing Toshiro and I was wondering--"_

_She burned bright red and after giving out a few 'mah, mah, it's just a friendly kiss' sentences, she jumped out of the room in a hurry._

Now, sitting on the couch, with a small, sad kit in his arms, he knew what to do. He tilted the kit's head up and looked at his eyes; sad and overflowing with tears. He then leaned down and kissed his forehead softly, and, suddenly, felt the boy freeze underneath him. Scared about the reaction, he leaned back and kept a stoic expression, watching the kit stare at him. But the kit had one of his paws in his hand and wouldn't let go for the sake of him. Either he was going to hurt him, or he was going to cry even harder.

Naruto sat there, frozen, feeling a tingling sensation in the center of his forehead, his tears stopping in his eyes. He stared at Gaara, wondering what gave him the idea... And how he got the courage... Naruto felt his sadness slowly ebbing away, and he began to think of Gaara in a different light. His eyes were trained on beautiful turquoise, a currently-red nose and whiskered cheeks. Thin, pearly lips were stuck in a trademark frown, and, casting his eyes up, Naruto noticed the sign of love on his forehead. _Love._

He looked at Gaara's eyes, feeling a soft thought wedge its way into his mind. _I need another kiss... I __**want**__ another kiss. _Leaning in slowly, Naruto kept his eyes trained on Gaara's until his lips slightly pushed against Gaara's own, and then he pulled back slowly, his eyes closed.

It was Gaara's turn to be shocked. Not only had he kissed the kit in the first place, but he got a kiss back, and on the lips, too. Did that mean he was curious? Confused? Passionate? He hardly seemed so. Curious? This was no time for him to be curious! He was probably in hysterics when he heard of her condition, so Gaara severely doubted he wanted a taste of him to see what it was like. Gaara concluded he was confused. Maybe he should set the kit straight.

He bit his lip slightly, finding a kink in his plan. He himself wasn't straight with the story and he needed to know it. He began to recall everything in his mind. He'd given Naruto a kiss to cheer him up. Why did he want to cheer him up? Because he was sad. Why was he sad? Because of Sakura. What happened to Sakura? She was ill. Did Gaara care for Sakura? Not really. So why was Gaara helping anyway?

He flinched, knowing the answer already. To rein in those butterflies. Those little thoughts in the back of his mind were gathering there all this time; ever since Sasuke had yelled at him to help Naruto get out of the hole he dug himself in. He ignored those thoughts until he couldn't quite shut the door on them completely due to there being too many of them. He reached into his mind and opened the door, and now looked at them completely. Each and every one sent some sort of fluttering fit into his heart.

_I'm worried about the kit._

_Wonder if he's okay._

_What happened?_

_If Sasuke and ramen didn't work then there's seriously something wrong._

_I wanna help._

_I like him a lot._

_He made me happy, so I should make him happy too._

_It's not an obligation, not payback, it's just because I wanna._

He didn't now what it was, doing something without obligation, without logical reasoning behind it. He didn't know how to do something without it having to do with repaying someone for something. He just didn't know how to do this.

And yet here he was, doing these things, not because he was repaying the kit for helping him see good in life, for seeing every ounce of life was precious, but because he **wanted to**. Because he felt the dire need inside to do it. To gain personal ground.

It confused him. So he let his instincts lead him to where he should go.

Naruto winced when he felt Gaara place a hand on his own and froze when he leaned in again, taking in wonderful sapphire eyes, tan skin, and whiskers. Then, with a small, uncharacteristic grin, Gaara covered Naruto's lips with his own. That grin would've scared Naruto had he not been kissed a few moments afterward. Gaara made hesitant motions against Naruto's lips, and Naruto suddenly felt himself responding, moving his lips against Gaara's too, until Gaara was licking his lips. Naruto opened his mouth and they continued to kiss, Gaara making sure he cleared up the story for Naruto. Naruto felt himself shaking, his cares slowly flying away. Gaara had done all of this to make him happy; all that mattered right now was Gaara, Gaara, _**Gaara. **_How intense the kiss was, how informing, how wonderful... Every aspect of the kiss helped Naruto just melt right into it.

He melted into it enough to not hear the door opening.

"NANI?!" a voice suddenly yelled and Gaara and Naruto tore apart, Naruto leaning in to Gaara. In the doorway stood a pissed Uchiha in front of a very shocked Neji who sported a dark red blush.

Gaara stifled a growl and glared at Sasuke. Naruto, meanwhile, clutched on to Gaara's fur and held on tight. He wasn't going to forfeit that feeling. Not yet.

"We wanted you to cheer him up, not make out with him!!"

To all of their surprise, Naruto yelled out, "What, ya jealous, teme?!"

Sasuke looked at the now restored kitsune and would've smiled, had he not just been insulted. "Hn, I doubt anybody would be jealous of someone making out with you, usuratonkachi."

"Take that back, teme!" Naruto yelled, and Sasuke released a 'hn', causing Naruto to get out of his seat and chase him out the door to strangle the hell out of him. Neji watched them go down the street, Gaara getting up from the couch to join him in the doorway.

"Good job," Neji murmured, and Gaara sighed a little.

"I think the kit did it by himself."

Neji shrugged, watching as Naruto pounced on Sasuke like a fox and missed completely. "You can never really, truly bring him down."

Gaara let loose his creepy new grin again. "That's the good thing about him."

Neji took two steps to his left.

* * *

**Little Panda-kun:**** I had such a fun time writing this fic! Sakura's recovery will be in the next chapter... This is just a oneshot, though, so... Yeah. I just thought that it would ruin the mood with her recovery and all.**

**Sasuke:**** I know it'd depress **_**me.**_

**Little Panda-kun:**** I know I'll kill myself for saying this, but you are awesome.**

**Sasuke:**** Already knew that, hakuchi.**

**Little Panda-kun:**** Fucking moron...**


End file.
